Thought it might be helpful to post some images from my show- a little tour of sorts.
Here’s the view from the entrance


View of the large gallery space:

Here I’m serving in my active role as docent for the show, giving tours:


Citizen Jen Elder and family eating ice cream sandwiches provided as part of the exhibition:

Labels: Box Set

During our preparations for PDF, Lisa introduced me to the work of Andrew McQualter, and his project Studies for the shape of government. I really love the documentation of this project, with the establishing shot of two people at a table followed by the document they created together. It’s cinematic almost.

I have been working with Melbourne artist Lisa Radford to create some PDFs for a project in Iowa City called Public Document Files (PDF). Jen Delos Reyes asked 30 artists (including myself) to create ten files “on or about artists they think are related to ideas surrounding public and socially engaged art work.” Lisa and I have been emailing links back and forth for several years now, and decided to make our PDFs out of those links.

Throughout this process, we discussed the possibility of whether we might be living parallel lives in cities on opposite sides of the world. We used the Radio Lab show The (Multi) Universe(s) as a starting point, and Lisa drew this great image in summation, merging our facial features and making connections between us.

My MFA show is up and running.

Monday-Saturday, 12-5PM (except for Memorial Day)
Today through May 29.

Where: PSU Autzen Gallery, 2nd Floor Neuberger Hall
(SW Broadway between Harrison and Hall)

I’m gallery sitting the entire time, so come say ‘hi!’

Statement:

In Box Set: The M.O.S.T. Remastered, Katy Asher reconfigures the gallery space into a museum displaying the complexities and rewards of working as part of a collaborative arts group. Organized around artifacts and an interpretive archive space, Asher introduces visitors to The M.O.S.T. – a tight knit social group whose membership prior to their dissolution in 2008 included Khris Soden as “The M.,“ Katy Asher as “The O.”, Jen Rhoads as “The S.” and Rudy Speerschneider as “The T.” The exhibition focuses on the cosmology, worldview and philosophies related to the group itself and its primary area of research, Mostlandia.

On display are the complete archives of artifacts from all 30 projects created by the group between 2003-08. The objects displayed give a glimpse into the breadth of the group’s conceptual interests, ranging from a 63-card trading card set to handcrafted ambassadorial uniforms, a specialized stamp kit and free ice cream sandwiches. * Asher provides access to volumes of emails and file cabinets packed with research and meeting notes showing the depth of the group’s investment in the collaborative decision making process.

*While supplies last!

Bio:

Katy Asher investigates how artists and audiences create shared meaning around ideas of place through group work, participation and facilitative practices. As a founding member of the four-member arts group The M.O.S.T., Asher performed in festivals, galleries and museums including TBA:05, the 2006 Melbourne International Arts Festival, the Victorian College of the Arts Margaret Lawrence Gallery (Melbourne, AUS) and Blackfish Gallery (Portland, OR). The M.O.S.T. received official recognition for their work as Mostlandian ambassadors from the mayors of Melbourne, Australia and Tilburg, Netherlands. In addition to creating socially engaged artworks in Matthew Yake’s living room, Melbourne’s town hall and Portland’s city streets, Asher toured Eastern Europe with Red76 during their DIY artist-as-rock-group project Building Batteries. Her projects have been included in Art Journal, Utne Magazine, Oregon Humanities Magazine and the catalogues for Core Sample: Portland Art Now and The Group Group Show. Katy and collaborator Rudy Speerschneider, recently showed work at The Pomona Museum College of Art (Pomona, CA) as part of suddenly, a series of publications, exhibitions, and other public events concerning the new shape of cities.

Links:

www.katyasher.blogspot.com
www.mostlandia.com
www.suddenly.org

Mostlandian Ambassadorial Uniforms

My apologies for being a quiet blogger recently. Most of my time is being spent in the non-cyber world as the installation date for my show draws nearer and nearer…

Opening Date: Monday, May 18

Here are some pictures of my more recent organizational efforts.

Paper files accumulated by members of The M.O.S.T., indexed by project and owner.

I’m on a roll with my graduate project – an archival display of The M.O.S.T.’s work from 2003-2008.
Right now, I’m using an extra room in my house to collect and sort through all of the ephemera from Rudy, Jen, Khris and my closets, drawers, boxes, basements, and filing cabinets.
It looks kind of like this:

Labels: Box Set